09/13/2020 – Jim Hurtubise was quite the character, a 4-time winner in AAA/USAC Champ Cars over the course of 22 years and 96 starts, he also accumulated 36 starts over 17 years in NASCAR Cup racing, the highlight being a surprise win in the 1966 Atlanta 500 driving Norm Nelson’s 1966 Plymouth (with sponsorship by Plymouth). Rumor was that Hurtubise carried a wrench with him and lowered his car during the race, tossing it out before the race ended.
A much more forgiving and appealing story about Hurtubise was that after he was badly burned at the Milwaukee Mile for the 1964 Les Mays Classic USAC Champ Car race, he had the surgeons form his terribly damaged hands so that he could grasp a steering wheel. Stories like that, along with his well-known gregarious attitude, made ‘Herk’ (short for Hercules) a fan favorite.
Out of Hurtubise’s 36 Cup starts, he only had 1 in a Pontiac, which was at Riverside International Raceway for the 1963 Riverside 500. Starting a surprising 9th in a field filled with many domestic motorsports heavyweights of the day (not just NASCAR regulars such as Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly, Paul Goldsmith, and Richard Petty, but also drivers such as eventual winner Dan Gurney and Troy Ruttman) Hurtubise eventually retired from the race with engine problems after a couple of spins, finishing 27th in his #75 Mountain Meadows Motel 1961 Pontiac Catalina.
Pontiac Racing 